Angela

I live on about 12,000 plus a little help from the fam. Its pretty tight, but I make it work. I live on Capitol Hill, pay about $700 for rent of a one bedroom, about $80 for utilities. Thats about standard for the neighbourhood/size of apartment. Its much cheaper if you can find a roommate. Public transportation is excellent (see my post in that thread).

Seattle is wonderful without a car as long as you don't mind the rain. We have finally been rated as having the worst traffic in the U.S., so the bus is definitely a must if you are in the city. They are working on a light rail right now, the downtown is a free ride bus zone and UW sells a pretty cheap bus pass for unlimited transportation. The buses go everywhere and most routes run 24/7. There is even an express route from the UW to downtown. As long as you don't mind walking to a bus in the rain (usually never more than .2 miles), then its great. We are pretty bike friendly too, even though we have a lot of hills.

The University of Washington is starting a Public Anthropology M.A. program that is focused on public service and activism. If you're only looking for a PhD, there are a few faculty members that are into activism. Rachel Chapman is a medical anthropologist that is involved with an NGO called Health Alliance International and is focused on women's healthcare in the urban U.S. and on PMTCT of HIV in Mozambique. I have personally worked with her and another faculty member, Holly Barker. Prof. Barker is particularly into activism and I've taken a few of her undergrad classes on applied methods with a service learning portion. She worked in the Marshall Islands with the native people to try and get compensation for the damage caused by nuclear testing by the U.S. Currently she is working with students on a project in Hanford, WA, a former Plutonium plant that has a bad history of ruining the lives of the "whistleblowers" at that facility. Worth checking out! If you are interested and are in Seattle, you can get a hold of Prof. Barker via email and stop in for a chat (she's an absolute doll!), but getting a hold of Prof. Chapman will prove difficult and time consuming (she's intensely busy) but worth the effort if you do. She's also extremely personable. Hope it helps!